This short book introduces students of criminology to the ‘critical dimension’ of that subject. The focus of this volume is on how the critique proffered in and by ‘critical criminologies’ is itself not above criticism. Indeed, ‘critical criminologies’ would do well to acquire a self-reflective and self-critical attitude towards their own pre-conceptions and the desires that underpin them. 

This argument is explored and developed across a number of themes and topics, including: an overview of the basic trends in critical criminology between WW2 and the turn of the century; the most recent splintering within the ‘critical dimension’ of criminology; the problem of criminalization; how power and discourse not only shape and reshape life conditions but also mystify the latter; the structural origins and forms of harm and violence; the continuing search for ‘alternatives’; and finally, the crimes of the powerful. Ultimately, the book debates the multiformity, inescapability and ineradicability of critique in the ‘critical dimension’ of criminology.

Ronnie Lippens is a retired Professor of Criminology (University of Keele, UK) and is currently teaching at Liverpool John Moores University, UK.